Luke 5:12-16
It happened that there was a man full of leprosy in one
of the towns where he was; and when he saw Jesus, he fell prostrate, pleaded
with him, and said, "Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean." Jesus
stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, "I do will it. Be made
clean." And the leprosy left him immediately. Then he ordered him not to
tell anyone, but "Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your
cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them." The report
about him spread all the more, and great crowds assembled to listen to him and
to be cured of their ailments, but he would withdraw to deserted places to
pray.
* * *
Introductory Prayer: Lord, I approach you today with a heart
as humble as this leper’s, who can claim no beauty apart from what you can give
him. My willful defects have disfigured your plan for me, and I seek from you
today the power to make all my works and words clean. I hope in you and trust
in your infinite mercy.
Petition: Lord,
grant me an unshakeable confidence in your infinite mercy.
1. "Lord, If You Wish, You Can Make Me
Clean": If God so wills.... This marks a
disposition of soul that says the leper wants God more than he wants his cure.
By demonstrating patience and acceptance, he shows he is ready to live his
cross according to God’s plan for him. Being self-absorbed and not accepting
problems and defects is, in itself, an obstacle to being cured of them. Some
lose patience in the fight because they want the cure more than they want the
one who cures. Such cures may heal the body, but leave the soul diseased and
unattractive to God. Openness to God’s time, detachment from an easy life, and
total abandonment into Our Lord hands permits illness to cure the soul long
before it is freed from the body. How beautiful the soul of this humble leper
was in Christ’s eyes! May I let this prayer today open my heart to accept all
trials of the moment with humility and love for the God who guides me.
2. "I
Do Will It. Be Made Clean": The disfigurement of leprosy becomes a
symbol for the soul of a sinner in need of redemption. Suffering the miserable
and disfiguring effects of sin provokes man to begin the path to conversion and
change. There is something of disbelief in a new life for those who still feel
the sting of a grievous sin of their past. They work to draw close to God, but
find it hard to believe he would ever want to be close to them. The
intervention of God––definitive, eternal, absolute––moves Christ’s hand, which
reaches out to touch the leper saying, “I do will it!” From his flesh to his
soul––God’s will to forgive and heal surpasses our human comprehension! When we
stop measuring our failures from wounded self-love and accept with living faith
the decisive will of the redemptive God, we will find ourselves fully immersed
in the life of the new man in Christ, dead to sin and dead to the world.
3. Then He
Ordered Him Not to Tell Anyone: Our Lord imposes silence. Not all that is
known needs to be said, and prudence is demanded from a disciple of Christ. How
often do we slow down God’s work by speaking too much, manifesting too much of
our knowledge for vanity’s sake? Christ is secure in himself because he lives
his mission face-to-face with his Father, and the time and place of his formal manifestation
to the Jews will come at his bidding. Discretion, as a virtue, is a self-giving
work, not in the least self-serving. We speak so as to maximize the good we
wish to do for others. Our Lord’s discretion proves such a posture. When will
his identity be formerly declared? “When I am raised up, then I will draw all
men to myself” (John 12:32). Only in his passion, from Palm Sunday to Easter
Sunday, will he fully show his hand. May I communicate my experience of Christ,
my knowledge of him, with the humility, charity and restraint that prudence
imposes, so that I may maximize the effect of Christ’s truth in the world.
Conversation
with Christ:
Lord, I see your hand moving from the leper to my soul, showing its power
to transform. No sin should ever break my fighting spirit; no longtime defect
should ever weaken my hope in victory. Your hand but moves and all is cured,
forgiven, and redeemed. Today I anchor my program of holiness with confidence
in your grace and unconditional love.
Resolution: I will entrust
someone I know to be living a bad life to the power of Our Lord’s mercy.